• Author: Kathryn Stockett
• ISBN: 9780399155345
• Publisher: Putnam
• Release Date: February 10, 2009

This fiction book was picked by a friend of mine for our book club to read.  The size of the book initially gave me a feeling of dread, but then one woman I ran into said that from the first sentence, she was hooked.  Indeed, from the first sentence of this book I was hooked. 

 ”The Help” refers to the African American women who were employed as maids by families in Mississippi during the 1960’s.   The story is broken up into sections written by three different characters. Their dialects are each different (very Southern) and speak to the reader from the written page.   (This helped me to visualize the characters more crisply in my mind.)  Even though this is Kathryn Stockett’s first novel, she writes with an ease and openness that make the pages of this book fly.  The dialogue never seems contrived or awkward.

 I was sad to be done with Ailbileen, Minny and Skeeter.   Their stories were touching, unbelievable and courageous.  These three women begin a project together that will endanger their lives and friendships are formed where no one would have dared to imagine possible.  They are brave beyond words for the world of the 1960’s.   I recommend you read this book to find out what they decided to do to try and change the prejudices that surrounded them every day.